HISTORY OF THE INTERNET

Although the history of the Internet arguably

begins in the 19th century with the invention of
the the telegraph system, the modern history of
the Internet starts in the 1950s and 1960s with
the development of computers. This began with
point-to-point communication between
mainframe computers and terminals, expanded
to point-to-point connections between computers
and then early research into packet switching.
Packet switched networks such as ARPANET,
Telenet, and the Merit Network were developed in
the late 1960s and early 1970s using a variety of
protocols. The ARPANET in particular lead to the
development of protocols for inter networking,
where multiple separate networks could be joined
together into a network of networks.
In 1982 the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP)
was standardized and the concept of a worldwide network of fully interconnected TCP/IP
networks called the Internet was introduced.
Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1994
when the National Science Foundation (NSF)
developed the Computer Science Network
(CSNET) and again in 1986 when NSFNET
provided access to supercomputer sites in the
United States from research and education
organizations. Commercial internet service
providers (ISPs) began to emerge in the late
1980s and 1990s and the Internet was
commercialized in 1995 when NSFNET was
decommissioned, removing the last restrictions

on the use of the Internet to carry commercial

traffic.
Since the mid-1990s the Internet has had a
drastic impact on culture and commerce,
including the rise of near instant communication
by electronic mail, text based discussion forums,
and the World Wide Web. The research and
education community continues to use advanced
networks such as NSF's very high speed
Backbone Network Service (vBNS) and Internet2.
Increasing amounts of data is transmitted at
higher and higher speeds over fiber optic
networks operating at 1-Gbps, 10-Gbps, or more.
The Internet continues to grow, driven by ever
greater amounts of online information and
knowledge, by commerce and entertainment,
and by social networking.